In recent years, a number of operation input devices for an operator to enter his operations into an information device in a non-contact manner have been developed. Non-contact operation input devices have been drawing attention as means for reducing the operation workload of the operator and making it possible to operate an information device in the middle of work at sites of surgery, cooking, and the like.
Some of such operation devices are, for example, designed to capture with a camera and analyze an image of the operator and enter the operation into the information device based on image analysis results (for example, Patent Literature 1).
The operation control device described in the Patent Literature 1 detects a hand or the like moving as the user makes a motion with a stereo camera, identifies the motion of the hand or the like, and moves the cursor in the display region according to the identified motion. This operation control device moves the cursor and cursor movable region based on the motion of a first detection target, and moves only the cursor within the cursor movable region based on the motion of a second detection target. It is stated that this configuration makes it possible to operate an operation target intuitively and highly accurately.
The applicant of the present application has also filed an input device executing operation input based on images of an operator captured by a camera (for example, Patent Literature 2). The input device described in the Patent Literature 2 captures images of the operator with two juxtaposed video cameras and measures the distance between the video cameras and a hand or finger of the operator. The motion of the hand or finger is detected when the measured distance falls within a preset acceptable range of depth. According to the detection results, a virtual cursor is moved within the display screen, or various operations such as selection and other operations are identified and operation input signals are created. As a result, it is made possible to distinguish between the operator and background noise and create accurate operation input signals.